Elon Musk is once again making headlines with his ambitious plans to build a supercomputer, which he aims to have operational by fall 2025. According to a report by The Information, this “gigafactory of compute” will leverage Nvidia GPUs and is intended to outdo Meta’s extensive chip cluster.
Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is at the forefront of this venture. On Sunday, the company announced it had raised an impressive $6 billion in a new funding round, demonstrating that the excitement surrounding AI is far from waning. As per The Wall Street Journal, notably, Musk himself has invested $750 million into xAI, while his social media platform, X, has contributed computing power valued at $250 million.
The driving force behind these efforts is Musk’s desire to bolster xAI’s operations. Despite its relatively modest offerings so far—highlighted by the chatbot Grok, which Musk describes as having “a little humor”—xAI has achieved a staggering $24 billion valuation post-funding. This positions the company well as it gears up for more significant advancements.
Central to Musk’s supercomputer dream is a vast assembly of Nvidia’s H100 GPUs. These high-demand, expensive chips are critical for training large language models, a cornerstone technology in AI development. Musk has informed investors that xAI’s cluster will be more than four times the size of Meta’s, indicating his serious commitment to leading the AI race.
During Nvidia’s earnings call last week, CFO Colette Kress revealed that xAI is purchasing the new Blackwell chips, slated for delivery later this year. This acquisition underscores the startup’s strategic planning and readiness to invest in cutting-edge technology.
Currently, xAI rents servers from Oracle, utilizing approximately 16,000 Nvidia chips. Given Musk’s connection with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, there’s potential for a partnership to build the supercomputer. The Information reports that xAI might spend up to $10 billion on renting Oracle’s cloud servers in the coming years, further emphasizing the scale of Musk’s vision.
Musk’s ambitions are particularly bold when compared to other industry giants. For instance, the $100 billion Stargate supercomputer project by Microsoft and OpenAI isn’t expected to be operational until 2028. This comparison highlights Musk’s aggressive timeline and his determination to push the boundaries of AI technology.
To support this massive undertaking, xAI is expanding its team, with several job openings in San Francisco and London. Musk recently took to X to encourage potential candidates to join xAI, appealing to those who are passionate about “understanding the universe” and pursuing the truth with maximum rigor.
Elon Musk’s latest venture reflects his relentless drive to innovate and lead in the technology sector. As xAI continues to grow and develop its capabilities, the world will be watching closely to see if Musk’s supercomputer can indeed surpass the capabilities of its competitors and set new standards in the AI industry.
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